2020-2021 HTDTWT Academic Writing classes for students in their first year.

During their first year of study at the DAI all students take part in an academic writing course (6 sessions), which will look at: formulating arguments and presenting data, organisation and coherence throughout a text, writing clear and concise paragraphs, structure and discourse as well as the use of sources (summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, and referencing).

The HTDTWT program co-ordinator and tutor for the academic writing classes is Florian Göttke

Please return to this page for monthly program updates.

Class 5 (April) online

Exercises for less comfortable writers. (only a limited number of students are invited for this extra support session)

Clause Combining; Collocations; Paraphrasing

Assignment 5 for all: first draft Thesis Proposal

Formulate a thesis proposal that includes a description of the topic, the relation of the topic to your practice, the theoretical framework you want to apply, a bibliography of relevant texts that you will use.

(A first draft is a raw version of the complete assignment, the first attempt at getting all your ideas on paper. It acts as the framework for the final version. A first draft is never perfect; it’s full of grammatical mistakes, poor word choices, and structural issues. The idea is to get a large portion of your project actually written, and worry about fixing the problems later.)

Class 4 (March) online

How to think about voice: personal — impersonal; interactivity between author and reader; informal language / formal jargon; tentative / authoritative; advocating / taking positio

How to organize an argument: chronological; spatial; general to specific; specific to general; problem to solution; cause to effect

Assignment 4: Theoretical Framework

Choose at least three academic texts that relate to your topic. Build on your text from assignment 3 and sketch the theoretical framework of your topic through these texts (300 words).

Class 3 (February) online

How to start your thesis: find a topic and formulate it -- formulate a theoretical framework -- conduct a library search

Discussion of examples of thesis proposals

Assignment 3: Topic

Choose a possible topic/object of research for your thesis. Write a description of that topic (300-500 words). Consider following aspects: factual information about the topic; situating the topic; experiencing/perceiving the topic; your own investment in the topic; theoretical implications of the topic

Class 2 (January) online

Introduction style: voice, structure, clarity, concision, elegance, vocabulary, accessibility, audience

Referencing Sources: paraphrasing, quoting, inline quote/block quote, footnotes and bibliography

Assignment 2: Research

Choose a text from your theory seminar. Choose an object of research (image, text, film, news report, event, concept). Write a short text. (around 300 words) using the text from your seminar to analyse/talk about the object of research. Use paraphrasing and quotes.

Class 1 (November) in Oldebroek

Introduction 

What is research in the arts? -- What is research in academia? -- How to engage with theory at the DAI

Introduction Thesis guidelines -- Introduction Paraphrasing + Quoting

Assignment 1: Literature Review

Choose a text from your theory seminar. Read and highlight the most important points in the argument. Write a short text (around 300 words) summarising (a part of) the argument of the author. Use paraphrasing and one quote.